Irish people
(November 29). It was free of rhetoric and ornament, but the draught was
skilfully brewed. He charged Mr. Gladstone with having revealed to him
during his visit at Hawarden in the previous December, that in a future
scheme of home rule the Irish members would be cut down from 103 to 32,
land was to be withdrawn from the competency of the Irish legislature, and
the control of the constabulary would be reserved to the Imperial
authority for an indefinite period, though Ireland would have to find the
money all the time. This perfidious truncation of self-government by Mr.
Gladstone was matched by an attempt on my part as his lieutenant only a
few days before, to seduce the Irish party into accepting places in a
liberal government, and this gross bribe of mine was accompanied by a
despairing avowal that the hapless evicted tenants must be flung
overboard. In other words, the English leaders intended to play Ireland
false, and Mr. Parnell stood between his country and betrayal. Such a
story was unluckily no new one in Irish history since the union. On that
theme Mr. Parnell played many adroit variations during the eventful days
that followed. Throw me to the English wolves if you like, he said, but at
any rate make sure that real home rule and not its shadow is to be your
price, and that they mean to pay it. This was to awaken the spectre of old
suspicions, and to bring to life again those forces of violence and
desperation which it had been the very crown of his policy to exorcise.

The reply on the Hawarden episode was prompt. Mr. Gladstone asserted that
the whole discussion was one of those informal exchanges of view which go
to all political action, and in which men feel the ground and discover the
leanings of one another's minds. No single proposal was made, no
proposition was mentioned to which a binding assent was sought. Points of
possible improvement in the bill of 1886 were named as having arisen in
Mr. Gladstone's mind, or been suggested by others, but no positive
conclusions were asked for or were expected or were possible. Mr. Parnell
quite agreed that the real difficulty lay in finding the best form in
which Irish representation should be retained at Westminster, but both saw
the wisdom and necessity of leaving deliberation free until the time
should come for taking practical steps. He offered no serious objection on
any point; much less did he say that they augured any disappointment of
Irish aspi